Improvement in teeth-separating apparatus



0. A. JARVIS. Teeth Separating Apparatus. No. 154 8 67, Patented Sept. 8,1874" 17206, far:

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER A. JARVIS, OF NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ALGERNON K. JOHNSTON,

OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN TEETH-SEPARATING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,867, dated September 8, 1874; application filed June 19, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER A. JARVIS, of New York city, New York, have invented Apparatus for Separating Teeth while in the Mouth, of which the following is a specification:

In operations on the teeth it is very often necessary to increase the width of the space between any tooth and that which stands next to it. This is necessary for a variety of reasons Sometimes to prevent decay which has commenced in one tooth from extending to its neighbor; sometimes to enable the dentist to pass rubber dams over the teeth; at times solely to give him room to fill a cavity ina proximal surface; again, to straighten a tooth to its normal position.

Hitherto, for these and various other reasons,

dentists have resorted to a variety of plans to accomplish the desired object, In some instances they have extracted a tooth merely to obtain room to work upon its fellow; more frequently they have separated contiguous teeth by filing one or both until sufficient space was obtained; or, again, they have cut out a space by the use of a rapidly-revolving corundum-wheel; or, again, they have inserted wedges, of wood or of gum-rubber, between the teeth, left them so placed until the teeth were slightly forced apart, then driven the wedges farther in, and so at the end of several days gained the wished-for end, viz.-, room between the teeth in which to work. If, without injury, and even without considerable pain to the patient,-tl1e dentist can, without delay, gain the advantage sought by any of these objectionable methods, it is clearly seen that a decided improvement is made. This is the design of my invention. I find that by the use of the separators pictured herewith I can, without delay, move the teeth from their positions sufficiently to give the dentist all the space he needs for his operations. This can generally be accomplished immediately" withlittle if any pain to the patient, and with no risk of breaking a tooth. I find that I can best accomplish my purpose .by employing several forms of the apparatus, each being adapted to the shape of the teeth upon which it is to operate.

Figure 1 represents the form of apparatus which I find best adapted for separating incisors from one another. It should be placed so that the points, when drawn together, will slide upon each other, or will pass each other, and. so spread the teeth. Fig. 2 shows a form of clamp or separator in which the jaws only meet each other. While it can be used with some effect, it is more likely to do injury than the form first described. Fig. 3 represents a third form of separator, one that is especially adapted to separating molar teeth and bicus- .pids. In this instrument the jaws are pressed apart by means of the thumb-screw.

The form of the jaw is such as to adapt itself to the crowns of the teeth, and, at the same time, may have an opening through it through which the dentist can pass his excavators or pluggers when working upon the tooth against which it presses.

I am well aware that it is now common for dentists to regulate teeth which have improper positions in the mouth, amounting to deformity, by the use of jack-screws. These jack-screws are pictured in the advertisingpages of the various dental journals of the day, and are altogether unlike the separators here shown. I do not claim them as my invention. They are solely, or almost entirely, used for a different purpose, viz., to force teeth which occupy defective positions into correct positions in the mouth, and to retain them there until they grow into place. It is, therefore, necessary to leave these jack-screws in the mouth for days, and sometimes for weeks. On the other hand, my separators accomplish their object at once, and are removed from the mouth when the patient returns home.

The separators act between contiguous teeth for the purpose of changing their positions temporarily to permit examinations of the teeth, for convenience of working, or like temporary object. Jack-screws, on the contrary, do not act between teeth in juxtaposition, but usually between those which are considerably separated. They find their fulcrum or point-dappm' in the teeth upon the side of the mouth opposite from the teeth regulated, or in some artificial plate or apparatus introduced into the mouth for that purpose.

free ends provided with points for engaging v with adjoining teeth, and with recesses, notches, or holes for the insertion of dental tools while the implement is in place, substantially as described.

O. A. JARVIS.

Witnesses J. W. SELBY, WILLIAM FUCHS. 

